Getting Good Sound for Video

Voice is a vitally important part of any video. If the sound quality is poor, it can be a distraction for the viewer and make it difficult to generate captions for your video (a crucial part of ensuring your video meets accessibility requirements).

This post will give some advice to help you get the best quality sound for your video.

It's really tricky to give advice to you all when you're recording in your homes on your own computers. There are so many variables at play: physical spaces, computer systems etc. All I can do is give you some general advice and hope it can make a difference for you!

What sounds bad and why?

There are a few easy-to-spot signs of low-quality sound:

Crunchy - your computer needs to turn sound from your voice into digital data. If the computer is old or the audio converters are poor quality, your recorded sound can suffer from crunchiness. In technical terms this is low bit-rate. The remedy would be to use an additional audio converter or mic like a USB microphone, headset or sound card.

Distortion - if your input level is too high, you're likely to suffer from distortion or overdrive. This is where the input gets overloaded and can't handle the loud volume. This can be fixed by dropping the input level in your sound settings. Be careful not to drop it too low as you may be too quiet!

Distortion can also happen if you're too close to the microphone. So keep an optimal distance (see below).

Distant - If you move away from the microphone, you'll sound distant. You need to be within a good range from your microphone e.g. about between 6 - 12 inches is good.

Room noise - Things in your room make noise and they will get picked up by your mic. Things like kids, dogs, fans, washing machines, kettles are noisy. Try to eliminate these as much as possible (by this I mean go to a room where these things aren't!).

Outside noise - Things outside can be noisy too! Powertools, traffic etc. Can you close a window for a bit while recording? This might help!

Here's an audio clip with examples of these problems:

Computer systems

There are so many different computer systems and the quality of computer sound varies enormously.

What I can say from experience and with confidence is that if you have a reasonably new (up to 5-6 years old) Apple Mac computer and you use the onboard microphones, in a quite room, your sound quality will be very good! This is because, love them or hate them, Apple Macs simply have good hardware! At a high price!

That isn't to say that a regular PC or laptop isn't as good, but with PCs, there are so many brands, models and price ranges, that some of them are good and some are awful!

A good setup

So how do you know if you have a good setup? Well, does it sound good, bad, ok?

Do some test recordings and try listening with headphones. If you want a second opinion ask a family member or a colleague.

By listening you might be able to identify what's causing any issues so that you can fix the problems.